Hyde: What a night it could be for Miami — but everything points to Florida on Saturday | Commentary

Miami Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz looks ahead to the UM football game against Florida on Friday.

The New Miami has, by definition, a new, first-game coach.

Florida is coached by a builder of two programs.

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The New Miami has, by declaration, a new, first-game quarterback.

Florida has a third-year quarterback who threw 24 touchdowns and six interceptions last year.

The New Miami has tried everything, starting with inventing “The New Miami,” to erase the last time anyone saw it in a 35-3 loss to Wisconsin that lowlighted a closing stretch of five losses in seven games.

What a rare opportunity Miami has to say, right from the first night that matters, how everything really has changed with the change of a coaching staff and, maybe, the waving of a magic wand.

“It’s an opportunity, and we know that,’’ Quarterman said.

But you see why Florida is the heavy favorite, right?

Dan Mullen is doing in Gainesville what Diaz wants to do in Coral Gables. He entered a troubled program, righted the culture, found some players and now has them comfortable in a system that wins. It took him one season.

“It wasn’t easy,’’ he said. “It’s been a lot of work to get to this point. And we really haven’t done anything yet.”

They had a top-10 finish last year despite playing in the tough Southeastern Conference. That’s something. It makes the Gators the hands-down best team in the state in August, just ahead of Central Florida.

Florida was mostly treading water since Urban Meyer left in 2010. Now it looks to be on the right path. Miami has been treading water since Butch Davis left. Is Diaz the answer?

Sure, Florida has beaten Miami just once in three decades. But they haven’t played much of late, and it’s also true Miami hasn’t beaten a top-10 team away from home since 2005 (at No. 3 Virginia Tech).

Opening games are wild cards, especially at the college level without any preseason. Former Miami linebacker Jon Beason, now a straight-talking ACC Network commentator, picked Florida to win earlier this summer. After watching film, he’s switching to a Miami win.

“The way Florida plays, a lot of man-to-man [coverage], a lot of aggressive stunts, Miami’s going to have their shots,’’ Beason said. “We’ll see what they do with them.”

Since taking the job, Diaz would provide a countdown to this opening kickoff in interviews. It was 170 days away in an initial interview. Then 134 in another one. He said he would Google the date before interviews.